Travel. Travel to Africa, to the golf course, to a world of espionage and deception. Travel back in time, when a college degree was the ticket to success. Take a trip with this week’s new releases:

THE LAST TRAIN TO ZONA VERDE: My Ultimate African Safari by Paul Theroux. Following the success of the acclaimed Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and The Great Railway Bazaar, The Last Train to Zona Verde is an ode to the last African journey of the world’s most celebrated travel writer.

THE LOWER RIVER by Paul Theroux. Now in paperback. A taut, tense, darkly suspenseful novel about a man who flees to Africa after his marriage falls apart, only to be caught up in a precarious situation in a seemingly benign village. 

AGENT GARBO: The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day by Stephen Talty. Now in paperback. The little-known World War II espionage story of Spaniard Juan Pujol, who convinced Hitler’s Abwehr that he had a ring of spies in Britain, only to pull off one of the greatest feats of any double agent: he fooled Hitler and disguised D-Day.

ON PAR: The Everyday Golfer’s Survival Guide by Bill Pennington.  Now in paperback. Inspired by his New York Times weekly column “On Par,” Bill Pennington has created a delightful compendium of all things golf that no golfer—whether a weekend duffer or a PGA pro—can afford to miss. Part instruction, part education, part hilarity, On Par is the go-to guide for the twenty-first-century golfer. 

COLLEGE (UN)BOUND: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Students by Jeffrey Selingo. Jeff Selingo, journalist and editor-in-chief of the Chronicle for Higher Education, argues that colleges can no longer sell a four-year degree as the ticket to success in life. College (Un)Bound exposes the dire pitfalls in the current state of higher education for anyone concerned with intellectual and financial future of America.

Happy reading!

Health and happiness, as individuals and as a community, are the focus this week. Take an in-depth look at addiction, read an eye-opening account of the truths children grasp, connect body and mind with a world-class athlete, but don’t forget to eat! 

CLEAN: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America’s Greatest Tragedy by David Sheff. The author of the No. 1 New York Times bestseller Beautiful Boy offers a new paradigm for dealing with addiction based on cutting-edge research and stories of his own and other families’ struggles with – and triumphs over – drug abuse. Share your own stories and learn more in our forum.

WORLD PEACE AND OTHER 4TH GRADE ACHIEVEMENTS by John Hunter.  Award-winning teacher and high-profile public speaker John Hunter offers insights into conflict resolution and collective problem-solving gleaned from his many years teaching kids through the “world peace game,” an innovative global systems simulation he created.

SHELTER CYCLE by Peter Rock. An American original, Peter Rock brings our strangest beliefs to vivid and sympathetic life in this haunting novel inspired by true events: two childhood friends, whose families were members of an extreme religion, suddenly reencounter each other twenty years later. 

FAMILY TABLE: Favorite Staff Meals from Our Restaurants to Your Home by Michael Romano and Karen Stabiner. The best staff meals from Danny Meyer’s acclaimed restaurants—Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Maiolino, Eleven Madison Park, The Modern, Blue Smoke, Untitled at The Whitney, and more—simple enough for any home cook’s weeknight dinners, delicious enough for the most discriminating palates. 

EAT AND RUN: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness by Scott Jurek and Steve Friedman. Now in paperback. An inspiring memoir from ultrarunner Scott Jurek, star of Born to Run, covering his remarkable running career, fueled, surprisingly, by an entirely plant-based diet.

ARE YOU MY MOTHER? A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel. Now in paperback. From the best-selling author of Fun Home, Time magazine’s No. 1 Book of the Year, a poignant and hilarious  graphic memoir of Alison Bechdel becoming the artist her gifted mother always wanted to be.

GODFORSAKEN IDAHO by Shawn Vestal. For fans of George Saunders and Raymond Carver, this powerful, imaginative story collection takes readers on a journey from the afterlife to contemporary times to the early days of Mormonism—a stunning debut  by an acclaimed McSweeney’s and Tin House contributor.   

It’s a veritable March Madness of books! SO many titles available today, liiiiiiiiiike: 

BIG DATA by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier: A revelatory exploration of emerging trends in “big data”—our newfound ability to gather and interpret vast amounts of information—and the revolutionary effects these developments are producing in business, science, and society at large. 

PATI’S MEXICAN TABLE by Pati Jinich: The host of the popular PBS show Pati’s Mexican Table shares everyday Mexican dishes, from the traditional to creative twists. 

A NEW NEW TESTAMENT by Hal Taussig: A provocative new edition of the New Testament that includes ten more recently discovered texts, selected by a council of scholars and spiritual leaders. 

A DYING FALL by Elly Griffiths: Forensic archeologist Ruth Galloway—think Bones in the field instead of in the lab—investigates her most heart-stopping case to date after an old university friend and fellow archeologist is murdered. 

THE RETROSPECTIVE by A.B. Yehoshua: A director, a screenwriter and an actress, old friends and colleagues, meet up for the first time in decades in Santiago de Compostela, and are forced to face the demons that undid them years before, and the ones haunting them now.

DRIVING MR. YOGI by Harvey Araton: A narrative of the friendship that’s developed between Ron Guidry and Yogi Berra as a result of Berra’s annual trips to Florida for Yankees spring training. 

100 MORE WORDS EVERY HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE SHOULD KNOW: The latest offering in the 100 Words series from the editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries allows high school students and adults alike to assess the strength of their vocabulary and to fill in any gaps they discover.

THE POWER OF NEGATIVE THINKING by Bob Knight: Legendary firebrand basketball coach Bob Knight, the second-winningest coach in the history of the NCAA, turns conventional thinking on its head and challenges us to use negative thinking instead. 

Another great list of books available this week, yours for the reading:

ANTARCTICA by Gabrielle Walker: A scientist and writer who has traveled to more varied parts of Antarctica than anyone else alive paints a vivid new portrait of the most extraordinary and alien place on earth. 

THE FIVE MYTHS ABOUT NUCLEAR WEAPONS by Ward Wilson: Drawing on new facts and new historical research, Wilson shatters preconceived ideas about nuclear weapons in a clear-eyed and refreshingly pragmatic way. The result is a game-changing book that will be widely read and hotly debated by all who care about peace in the twenty-first century. 

REVOLUTION 2.0 by Wael Ghonim: Now in paperback. One of the most dramatic and galvanizing stories of the Arab Spring, told by the Google executive at the center of it all.

Happy reading!

Introducing the 2012 BEST AMERICAN SERIES, the finest in travel, science and nature, sports, and mystery writing, essays, comics, nonrequired reading, and short stories, culled and perfected by editors of the highest degree, including Dave Eggers, David Brooks, Tom Perotta and more.

Check out the website to learn more and to get involved.